LASK Celebrates Convincing Home Victory

After his successful comeback last Thursday, which included a goal, Florian Flecker was in the starting lineup for the first time this season. The same applied to Maximilian Entrup, who made his starting debut for the Athletiker. The first chance of the game belonged to the Black-Whites, as Robert Zulj got a shot off inside the box after a quick combination down the left side, but guest goalkeeper Simon Spari was alert (3'). It took a while for the next scoring opportunity to come, as LASK, as expected, dominated the play but initially struggled to break through a man-marking, compact defensive opponent.

That changed after 26 minutes when Zulj produced a moment of brilliance: a header flick from Flecker was expertly taken by the captain, who volleyed the ball while turning, beating Spari to make it 1-0. The Upper Austrian's third goal of the season was a beauty! Even after the goal, the character of the game remained largely unchanged, with Linz not allowing a single shot on target and finding another chance through Sascha Horvath after 34 minutes.

The second half began with a moment of fright for the home side when Tobias Koch found himself unmarked and headed the ball against the crossbar (49'). However, LASK quickly regained control of the match and once again brought the goal anthem to life in the Raiffeisen Arena. A perfect pass from Branko Jovicic found the hard-working Entrup, who took the ball well and beat goalkeeper Spari from a tight angle – 2-0 for LASK, marking the striker's first goal in a Linz jersey! A few minutes later, the European Championship participant’s starting debut came to an end, as he and Flecker made way for substitutes Marin Ljubicic and Lenny Pintor.

The latter played a key role in the next goal celebration: his cross was deflected into the net by Klagenfurt's Jannik Robatsch for an unfortunate own goal – 3-0 (70'). Shortly before the final whistle, Ibrahim Mustapha added his name to the scoresheet: after Pintor won the ball, the Frenchman set up his teammate in the middle, who finished from close range to make it 4-0. With this win, the Upper Austrians extended their impressive streak against Klagenfurt, remaining unbeaten in all 22 encounters.

LASK – SK Austria Klagenfurt 4:0 (1:0)
Raiffeisen Arena, 10,750, Referee: Ciochirca
Goals: 1-0 Zulj (26'), 2-0 Entrup (56'), 3-0 Robatsch (70' own goal), 4-0 Mustapha (89')
Yellow cards: Flecker, Jovicic

LASK lineup: Siebenhandl – Stojkovic, Ziereis, Talovierov, Bello (85' Galvez) – Horvath, Jovicic – Flecker (60' Pintor), Zulj (C/85' Mustapha), Berisha (74' Boateng) – Entrup (60' Ljubicic)